oftheunitedstates. youcan see exactly what happened. it explains it. it has the back channel conversations, the notes of the meetings, and the interviews with people. just to take an example. part of the solution of last year would be setting up a super committee to come up with $1.2 trillion. everybody said this would work. harry reid said it was a sure thing. mitch mcconnell expected it to work. committee met. the mechanism was to come up with this deficit reduction. havef you don't, we'll sequestration, means forced spending cuts immediately in 2013 in a way that is decided almost with a hatchet, so everyone gets cut. pentagon. medical research. the super committee failed. that is what we are stuck with. host: james from louisiana. caller: who do you think is calling the shots in the white house? the thing it is valerie jarrett -- do you think it is valerie jarrett or the other end of the chicago machine. thati is all. guest: the president is calling the shots. he is heavily influenced and the man who ran his successful campaign in 2008, the senior adviser and has the office closest to